From left, Hamdeen Sabahy, Mohamed ElBarabdei and Amr Moussa give a press conference to announce the National Salvation Front’s policy of rejecting dialogue with President Morsy on 28 January 2013(DNE/ Mohamed Omar)

The National Salvation Front (NSF) and its members denied inciting violence and continued to make demands for President Mohamed Morsi’s resignation following clashes at the presidential palace on Friday night.

On Saturday night, the NSF responded to accusations that it had incited the violent confrontations between police and protesters. “These statements reveal the objective of a regime hostile toward the people and national opposition forces,” said a statement issued by the front. The group drew parallels between the brutality of Central Security Forces (CSF) on Friday and clashes that occurred on 5 December when “Brotherhood militias” clashed with opposition protesters, leaving around 10 dead and hundreds injured.

The NSF called for the “downfall of the regime of tyranny and the domination of power by the Muslim Brotherhood” and called on Egyptians to continue demonstrating peacefully across the country in order to make their demands heard.

The group also called for independent judicial investigations into the recent violence, specifically examining the possible role of the president and the interior minister in the killing, torture and detention of protesters. The NSF said that no official connected to the recent violence should be exempt from a fair trial.

In its statement the NSF also called on the government to focus on the economy in response to increasing prices and high levels of poverty throughout Egypt.

The front said it would not engage in dialogue until its demands were met and the people’s “freedom, social justice, and human dignity” had been realised.

The Egyptian Popular Current, a member of the NSF, blamed policies unchanged by those in power for the continued bloodshed in a statement titled: “The people demand the downfall of the regime.”

“We practice all means of peaceful protest and expression of opinion, sometimes through dialogue and sometimes through demonstrations,” the statement added.

The Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) also held Morsi accountable for the most recent violence and demanded that he intervene immediately to reform the police to ensure less brutal tactics, and conduct investigations against those who incited violence and violated the law.